The Protection of Civilians: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Protection of Civilians:

An Overview for Senior Leadership

Senior Leadership

Programme

New York

22 July 2015Slide2

High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations

“Each

and every peacekeeper – military, police and civilian –

must pass this test

when crisis presents itself

.”

The commitment of mission leadership … will ultimately define effectiveness. A determined, proactive posture –politically and operationally – must be driven from the top by mission leadership as well as by the Secretariat.

“Protection of civilians is a core obligation of the United Nations…” Slide3

Protection of Civilians

Protecting civilians is a pre-existing

responsibility of Governments

Governments retain the

primary responsibility

in all casesPeace operations should first support GovernmentsWhere unwilling or unable, mandated peacekeepers can act to protect in place of the GovernmentPOC is a whole-of-mission effortSlide4

The Protection Architecture

The Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping

Mission-specific mandates

The largest 10 peacekeeping missions have POC mandates (95% of peacekeepers) (UNMISS, UNAMID, UNISFA, UNIFIL, MONUSCO, MINUSMA, MINUSCA, MINUSTAH, UNMIL, UNOCI)

Political missions with POC-related mandates: UNAMA, UNOCI, UNAMI

Child Protection: Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC)

9 peace operations with CAAC mandates (UNAMI, UNAMA, UNSOM; MINUSCA, MINUSMA, MINUSTAH, MONUSCO, UNAMID, UNMISS)Mechanism is co-led between SRSG of mission and UNICEF country rep, HQ lead is SRSG-CAACWomen’s Protection: Conflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV) Six peace operations with CRSV mandates and Women’s Protection Advisors (UNMISS, UNAMID, MONUSCO, MINUSCA, MINUSMA, UNOCI)Led in-mission by SRSG, at HQ by SRSG for Sexual Violence in ConflictSlide5

Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC)

Child: Anyone under 18 years of age

SG reports to the Security Council annually

Listing of parties to conflict that commit patterns of grave violations against children

Reports commitments made to end grave violations

A solution-oriented mandateSlide6

Child Protection Advisors in peace operations

Mainstreaming child protection and training all mission

personnel

Monitoring

and reporting on six grave violations against children

Dialogue and advocacy with parties to conflict to end grave violations

Strengthening child protection capacity of national counterpartsMonitoring & Reporting Mechanism (MRM): SCR 1612 (2005)Six grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict: Recruitment, Abduction, Killing/maiming, Rape/sexual violence,

Schools/hospitals attacks, Humanitarian accessListing of parties to conflict in SG’s annual reports on CAACNegotiation of action plans to end grave violations

Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC)Slide7

Conflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV)

“Conflict-related sexual violence refers to incidents or patterns of sexual violence, that is rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of Sexual violence of comparable gravity, against women, men, girls or boys”. Slide8

Conflict-related Sexual Violence

Women’s Protection Advisers in Peace Operations:

Address CRSV concerns at

the political

level, including through peace

agreements; Coordinate implementation of Monitoring, Analysis & Reporting Arrangements (MARA);Facilitate

dialogue with parties to the conflict, including government security & law enforcement agencies as well as armed groups; Mainstream CRSV considerations in the work of military, police & civilian components, & build their capacity to address CRSV. Monitoring, Analysis & Reporting Arrangements (MARA): SCR 1960 (2010):Ensure systematic gathering of timely, accurate, reliable & objective information on CRSV;

Promote increased & timely action to prevent & respond to CRSV; Inform strategic advocacy, enhance prevention & programmatic responses for survivors;Slide9

Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping

Mandate established in 1999:

“All necessary means to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, within capabilities and areas of deployment and without prejudice to the host government”

First official

authorisation

to use force apart from

self-defence or vague security mandatesAuthorises force regardless of the source of the threat“Imminent” = Not time-boundMissions limited by resources, but resources must be used strategically, proactivelySlide10

Protection of Civilians

(in Peacekeeping)

Operational measures

Mission-specific Protection of Civilian Strategies

Mission- or UN-wide assessments of risks to civilians

Senior and working-level coordination mechanisms Slide11

Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping

Three Tiers of POC Action

Tier I: Protection through political dialogue and engagement

Political good offices

Mediation

Tier II: Physical protection

DeterrencePre-emptionResponseConsolidation(Primarily military or police)Tier III: Building a protective environment

Facilitating humanitarian assistanceHuman rights investigationsPolice reformJudicial reformSecurity Sector reformSlide12

POC v. Politics: Common Assumptions

Protection of Civilians:Short-termReactiveConflict contexts

Led by Force or Humanitarians

Done without Host Government

Politics:

Medium- to Long-termPlanned, deliberativePeacebuilding contextsLed by Political ComponentLed by / Supportive of Host GovernmentSlide13

Protection of Civilians Policy in Peacekeeping

First DPKO-DFS Policy for POCBased on 15 years of lessons learned, successes and failuresAssociated Military GuidelinesPolice Guidelines under developmentSlide14

Senior POC Advisers

Jeffrey Bunger, UMISSZurab

Elzarov

, UNAMID

Baptiste Martin, MINUSCA

Koffi Wogomebou, MONUSCOBegona Gozanlez, MINUSMA